Boardman vs East

Gallery

O’Horo, Forte show skills in opener

By ALEXIS BARTOLOMUCCI

abartolomucci@vindy.com

youngstown

Boardman showed it was ready to dominate this season by taking down East in their opening game.

The Spartans defeated the Golden Bears, 41-7, Friday night at Rayen Stadium. Mike O’Horo and Jujuan Forte made their mark by scoring over half of the points and completing two touchdowns each for Boardman.

Photo Gallery: Boardman vs East

“It just came down to dispersing the ball really well — them not knowing who’s going to take it on a certain play and making the right reads,” O’Horo said.

Boardman’s Domonhic Jennings got the momentum going by scoring a three-yard touchdown with 5:04 left in the first quarter.

This play gave the Spartans the confidence they needed to play harder in the second quarter. Forte and O’Horo scored their first touchdowns in the second quarter — both from the two yardline.

“We were playing hard, we just made a bunch of mistakes,” East coach Brian Marrow said.

The players had a hard time keeping their hands on the ball and created turnovers and fumbles on both sides of the field. The Golden Bears had the opportunity on several occasions to create plays, but were unable to complete their passes.

“We left a couple turnovers on the field and we were shooting ourselves in the foot offensively,” Boardman coach Joe Ignazio said. “We’ll have to clean those things up, but I thought our energy was good.”

Boardman was leading 21-0 going into the half. Both teams knew they started out slow in the first half and had to go into the second with more speed.

“In the locker room, Coach Ignazio told us we made some mistakes and we had to clean it up,” Forte said. “We polished our mistakes and got right back to it in the second half.”

Within the first six seconds of the third quarter, the Golden Bears fumbled that Boardman’s Mike Fetsko held onto at the Bear’s 15 yardline.

Boardman showed its strength in the second half with three touchdowns in the third quarter. The three squib kicks created opportunities that the Spartans were able to utilize. Joe Ieraci scored the first touchdown a minute and a half into the third quarter.

O’Horo and Forte came back and scored their second touchdowns in the third quarter.

“That score looks the same as last year, but when we watch the film we know that it’s not,” Marrow said. “That score didn’t indicate to the kids how good they are.”

The end of the game was approaching but East wasn’t ready to give up. They completed more passes and Shannon Dubose ran for a first down with a 32 yard run.

The Golden Bears were able to get on the scoreboard when senior running back Jawan Showers made it across the goal line with six seconds left on the clock.

Marrow said appreciates the support from the community and wants to make sure that the team shows the fans that they’re going to get it done this season. He realizes the mistakes he made as a coach and the players know they have to keep their pride and take the season week-by-week.

“Always take away some of the positives and build on some of the mistakes that we made,” Ignazio said. “Our schedule doesn’t get any easier so hopefully they build some confidence going into week two, but they know we can’t have any letdowns.”